When Petunia Dursley opened the front door on that fateful November morning, she was met with what she assumed was a stray cat wrapped around a sleeping baby. She had managed to wriggle the envelope between them out and skim through the note despite her first instinct of slamming the door shut.

The cat woke up when she jostled the bundle of blankets, and Petunia thought she could finally shoo the cat away. She didn't want to get in trouble with whomever the cat's owners were. The cat had other ideas, though, and slipped between her legs as she stepped into the house with Harry in her arms.

Petunia would never be able to explain how she managed to make her way through the house and up the stairs (the cat had hissed and clawed at her feet when she had paused to consider leaving the baby in the cupboard under the stairs) to place the child in the same crib as Dudley. Petunia didn't give it much thought when she stopped noticing the cat after she'd settled Harry down. Dudley had given Harry one glance and turned right over to immediately fall asleep again.

The black cat was back when Petunia checked in on the boys again. It had settled itself in the shadows underneath the crib. Vernon had already had breakfast and left for work, all without showing a sign of his usual cat allergies, so Petunia didn't try to chase the cat away again. Its owners would come looking for it eventually, she supposed.

That eventually Petunia had expected never came. Weeks passed, then months, then years, and no one seemed to have ever seen or owned a similar black cat anywhere in Little Whinging. Even Vernon had somehow not seen the cat living in the same house as him for the first year and a half – Petunia could never figure out exactly how it was possible – until the man had threatened to punish Harry.

Harry had been messing around in the yard with Dudley. They had decided to have a mud fight in place of the snow fight they had enjoyed a few months prior. Petunia had rushed over at the sound of Vernon's raised voice and barely caught the flying spot of black that attacked Vernon.

Petunia could hear the sickening thud of Vernon's fist against the cat's body, and the cat being flung away, stilling for a few moments before seeming to shake itself off and renew its attacks. Dudley and Harry's giggles filled her ears as she watched the fight between her husband and the seemingly immortal cat.

"Vernon, stop it! Not in front of the children!" Petunia drew closer to her husband and hissed, "What will the neighbours think?"

The cat seemed to understand her words and stopped attacking Vernon, choosing instead to circle around Harry, before settling down to clean itself. Harry's eager hands stretched out to rub at the animal's fur, and Petunia was horrified when she saw red mixing with the mud on Harry's hands afterwards.

Despite the many scratches she had received from the animal, and there had been a great many since it had arrived, the cat had grown on her. It had kept both Dudley and Harry away from trouble many times – more Harry than Dudley, but Dudley and Harry were usually together.

Petunia shook her head and dragged Vernon into the kitchen before dashing off to find their first aid kit. It took her several long moments to gently dab at all of Vernon's scratches, with Vernon himself pulling away every few seconds. Petunia was worried about the cat and leaving both Harry and Dudley to continue petting the resting cat.

"What were you thinking, Vernon? In front of the neighbours? In front of Dudley?" Petunia was incensed. "Do you have any idea what seeing something like that could do to him? He liked that cat! So did Harry. Couldn't you hold your temper until you were all inside?"

"Is that the blasted cat you were talking about? Should have gotten rid of the menace," Vernon grumbled.

"And then what? Let the neighbours see you harming Harry too?" Petunia glared at him. "We're going to have to take that cat to the vet, and hope the injuries aren't too severe. Stay here, I'll go check on Dudley and Harry."

The two boys were still petting the cat. The cat seemed to have licked itself clean and was basking in the affection offered. It purred and licked at the boys' hands in encouragement.

The three paused their movements as she approached them. Had the situation been any less serious, Petunia thought she might have giggled from the identical looks of curiosity she received from them.

"I'm just going to check her over, alright?" Petunia said kindly. She was certain she would find at least one broken bone.

Instead, she ran her hands over the entire surface of the cat's body, and it didn't seem like the cat had even been injured. Petunia knew what she had heard. The cat should be injured, if not dead, from Vernon's punches. Petunia threw a speculative glance at Harry before shaking her head, Lily had done strange things, but bringing animals back from the dead was not one of them. She must have mistaken the sound.

"How about the two of you get her cleaned up, alright?" Petunia knew that would occupy the two boys for a while, but none of them would actually end up any cleaner than they were.

Petunia had been able to put that memory out of her mind quite quickly. Vernon had been less willing to put the event behind him, but Dudley had whined and cried every time Vernon complained about 'that damned cat' and the man eventually accepted their cat.

Harry was almost ten when Petunia was reminded of the incident again.

This time it was a bird that Dudley had brought in that Petunia knew was dead. Petunia had already shaken her head at Dudley. Harry petted the bird a few times and it squawked and flapped its wings a few minutes later. The bird had changed colour from its original grey to a black that was the same as their cat.

Dudley yelled excitedly and ran outside to let the bird go. Petunia held Harry back.

"What was that?"

Harry shrugged helplessly. "I just wanted to pet the bird. I didn't think it would try to peck me like that."

Petunia sighed. That wasn't what she meant, but she could see Harry's confusion. Harry had always been an honest child.

It was probably that.

Even though Harry had shown no other signs, no abnormalities, that was the only explanation. That he would go to that freak school soon and end up growing stranger and stranger every year.

She felt the cat that came with Harry brush around her ankles.

"You'll keep him normal, won't you?"

The cat purred and followed Harry outside.

Written for Hogwarts [1184 words]

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